17 Comments
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Amar Patel's avatar

Beating out the beat on Tiny Desk spoke volumes to me.

Deft writing, John 🙌🏾 You've got me thinking about this album in terms of history, morality, prosperity … all a that.

John Noire's avatar

Yeah that was the moment that cemented it as an all-time classic entry for me (that and the 'Virginia' opening)

Thanks Amar, all credit goes to the material 🙏🏾. This Clipse album (Malice's verses especially) made me look at the wider context of their music and the other things that go along with it (such as their religious references and allusions to Greek / Roman mythology). It was really fun process to digest it all and synthesize it into some words of my own

Amar Patel's avatar

I need to give this album a proper listen. Get the lyric videos...

John Noire's avatar

Yeah, would also recommend checking the Genius interviews / annotations as well because the explanations come directly from them this time around

K Salois's avatar

Love how you worked in Sinners for a new/old hip hop cosmology. This was lithe and coiled and great

John Noire's avatar

Lithe is such a great word to describe the vibe I was going for, thank you!

The 'Sinners' bit was probably the hardest part to pull off in this piece because I didn't want to force it but, at the same time, it just felt right, especially since people were calling Clipse the Rap 'Smokestack' Twins 😂. Happy to hear that it worked and appreciate you reading 🙏🏾

K Salois's avatar

I won’t be able to get that out of my head now. Now we know Michael B could play either equally well in the biopic

Marc Typo's avatar

The rhythm in this piece is just 🔥🔥🔥🔥

John Noire's avatar

Thanks Marc! Appreciate you reading. Just had to follow the flow / tone set by the Thornton brothers 🙏🏾

Stanley Fritz's avatar

Bro, I'm obsessed with the wordplay in this post. You was in your bag fully!

John Noire's avatar

Thanks bro 🙏🏾

Was fun to let the imaginary rapper in me rock out for a bit 👊🏾

alex b.'s avatar

Ohhh I was waiting for this! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Alex Lewis's avatar

Oh you were in your bag with this one! The alliteration throughout is chef’s kiss 🤌🏽

John Noire's avatar

Thanks bro 👊🏾. Once I was able to do it with the opening line, I had to see how far I could take it 😂. Much appreciated 🙏🏾

“dee norm®”'s avatar

“This is a soundtrack from Saturn, saturated with sinister synths and sonnets of sibling synergy,” i love your wordplay and assonance. this was a great read!

John Noire's avatar

Thanks Dee! Appreciate you saying that and picking up on it. Assonance and alliteration are some of my favorite things to do in writing (when the time calls for it). Grateful that this Clipse album gave me the opportunity to pull it off 🙏🏾

The Mystic Rose's avatar

I don’t understand all that you say, but I have felt called to learn more about rap and maybe learn to rap to take my poetry expression to next levels, so I read with curiosity:)